For the past 35 years, my professional life has been connected with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US-funded media organization that broadcasts uncensored news to countries where the free press was limited or nonexistent. I am sincerely proud of this collaboration. 35 years is not just a timeframe, it’s an entire creative life.
At anniversary events dedicated to the corporation’s work, I always said that I would like to live to see its closure. Why? Because we witnessed how our language services stopped operating when countries to which we broadcast became members of NATO and the European Union.
This meant these media broadcasts had fulfilled their mission—helping democratize the states for whose citizens they worked.
However, today, with Russia’s invasive war against Ukraine ongoing, with Russian and Chinese authoritarianism only growing stronger, with Radio Free Asia continuing its fight for truth, and with America’s main enemies still including Iran’s theocratic regime—any blow to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is nothing but a betrayal of democracy.
It’s the same betrayal as Donald Trump’s attempt to stop aid to Ukraine and allow Vladimir Putin to kill peaceful Ukrainians with impunity.
Any blow to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is nothing but a betrayal of democracy.
And we must speak honestly about this. After all, Radio Liberty’s main mission has always been to have honest conversations with its listeners, viewers, and readers.
I have no gratitude for Donald Trump, nor for those currently governing America, if they are willing to compromise democratic principles. But I am infinitely grateful to every American who made the existence of this great organization that defended freedom possible.
Yes, I am grateful to ordinary American taxpayers—the farmer from Iowa, the restaurateur from Illinois, the oil worker from Texas. It was thanks to them that during the years of the Soviet information blockade, we could hear truthful news and discover modern music and honest literature.
Today, in the era of new information technologies, Radio Liberty no longer plays the same role as before. But the very fact of our existence demonstrates that the United States remembers that democracy matters and that it needs to be defended—together with that same farmer from Iowa and restaurateur from Illinois.
Donald Trump wants to destroy this connection, but neither he nor his supporters from the ranks of ultra-right anti-democratic forces will succeed. Presidents come and go, but the great American democracy remains.
I also want to express my gratitude to colleagues from Voice of America—primarily as a listener. It was the Ukrainian service programs of this radio station during my school years that helped me, a boy from a city where Russian language and culture were forcibly imposed at the expense of Ukrainian identity, remember that I live in Ukraine, to access uncensored Ukrainian culture and language.
And the fact that since my school years I can freely work in the Ukrainian language is greatly thanks to Voice of America—as well as to that same farmer from Iowa or oil worker from Texas, thanks to whom this radio station existed. This is particularly meaningful because, during Soviet times, the Ukrainian language was systematically suppressed and marginalized as part of Moscow’s efforts to erase Ukrainian cultural identity.
The glory of the American people lies in their ability and willingness to protect the weak from the abuse of the strong.
That’s why I want to thank each of them once again. The glory of the American people and the United States lies in their ability and willingness to protect the weak from the abuse of the strong.
This is something Donald Trump will never understand. But you and I do.
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